Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu managed to avoid getting COVID for two years, but his luck ran out on Wednesday when he tested positive with a PCR test.
A spokesman for Netanyahu said he feels well and was following directives. However, he had to leave the Knesset immediately on its last day before its two-month spring recess.
Netanyahu, who took pride in his handling of the pandemic since its outbreak, had tested negative for COVID consistently, even as staff members and Likud MKs who are close with him and who met with him were diagnosed as positive.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has never tested positive and wrote a book about how to fight COVID, wished his predecessor a speedy recovery.
Earlier, coalition MK Shirley Pinto (Yamina) tested positive, balancing out the numerical loss of Netanyahu in voting in the Knesset plenum.
מאחל רפואה שלמה והחלמה מהירה ל-@netanyahu תרגיש טוב!
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) March 9, 2022
The Knesset was set to continue debating and then voting through Thursday on the controversial Palestinian family reunification bill, but it first voted on less controversial bills that were supported by both the coalition and opposition.
For example, Yesh Atid MK Meirav Ben-Ari passed a law that regulates the manner in which the rape kits of victims of sexual assault are maintained, and samples taken from victims of sexual assault are kept for the purpose of identifying the perpetrator in a police investigation. The bill extends the validity of biological samples from three months to 50 years, so that the victims can file a complaint even after a long period of time.
“This is an important step that returns control to the victims,” said Ben-Ari. “I am grateful for the right to alleviate, if only slightly, the complex experience that victims go through, to allow them to process the trauma they went through, and to approach coming forward at the appropriate time for them.”
Gadi Zaig contributed to this report.